


The Blue Flasks

by ccbgb



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Lyrium, Lyrium Addiction, Lyrium Withdrawal, Potions Accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 04:23:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3313817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ccbgb/pseuds/ccbgb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ambiguous female mage inquisitor unpacks from her journey. Her commander was not supposed to walk in when he did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Blue Flasks

To maintain a professional façade, they had timetables.  
The rules bothered her, but she understood their necessity. As the Inquisitor, such ‘frivolity’ amongst the ranks would be looked down upon in noble circles. The scandal would only be intensified by the participation of the Inquisition’s Commander.

As such, timetables were a must.

She would be gone for weeks doing fieldwork. She made sure to always send word ahead of her relaying her imminent arrival. After she arrived there was a period of four hours in which Cullen had to wait before visiting her. It put off notions of him being too eager and allowed her time to properly greet others and settle in. He was allowed no more than ten minutes in this first meeting, private or otherwise. Then they would wait for nightfall, where they could relax their defenses as most visitors were gone or too inebriated to notice their affiliation.

This particular trip into the field had lasted a month. She stepped into Skyhold’s gates eagerly, throwing a glance up at the battlements. She couldn’t see him but she smiled, knowing that he was looking down at her. Giving curt greetings to Skyhold’s current guests, she had Josephine fill her in on what she missed during her excursion. Josie kept it short, smiling as she sent the exhausted Inquisitor on her way to her quarters.

As the Inquisitor climbed the stairs into her room, she noticed a faint floral smell wafting from the room. As she reached the top of the stairs she saw at least five bouquets of mountain flowers placed in different areas of the room. A smile played at her lips. If her sense of time was right, she would see the culprit in about three hours. A lifting sensation filled her chest and she set her pack on her bed to unload.

As she unpacked she made a mental note to buy another small lockbox. She had been particularly lucky this trip, a ready supply of lyrium potions had been available and she ended up coming home with more than she had taken with her. Unfortunately, the Commander’s relationship with lyrium was difficult. He had said many times that he did not care that she was a mage, that he loved her all the same, but add lyrium, even if diluted and mixed with other ingredients… she dared not think of it.

She separated the herbs and stones she had collected on the trip into a neat pile. Next to that she laid her clothes, neatly folding them to better carry them to the wash. After, she laid out the poultices and lyrium potions. From the bottom of the pack she pulled a stack of crisply folded letters, all from her lion. She touched them gently, running one finger over the sharp edges of the folds. Inside, his neat and stoic script professed his longing for her to return.

The door slammed shut and she dropped the letters in surprise. They slowly fluttered to the ground as footsteps leapt up the stairs, two at a time.

“Inquisitor, I know it’s too soon but I-“

The footsteps stopped and she slowly turned to face the man at the top of the stairs. There was her lion, his curly mane waxed into place, his eyes bright with excitement. Her heart dropped to her chest as she stared at him, panting from having run up so many stairs. The potions were on the bed. You’d have to be blind not to see the faintly glowing pile of blue flasks. 

Perhaps it was her face that gave away her anxiety, or perhaps he had sensed the lyrium. Either way, she watched as his eyes shifted towards the bed and his smile slowly disintegrated. His eyebrows pulled together and the scowl she loved was suddenly frightening. His nose scrunched and he attempted to keep his mouth neutral, but he was failing. She had to say something, she had waited so long to see him, the moment was being ruined.

“Cullen, I-“

The scent of the flowers he had placed in her room suddenly made her nauseous. His gaze flicked to hers for only a moment before dropping down to look at his boots. The wind from the open windows pushed the love letters at her feet softly against the wood floor.

“Forgive me, my lady,” Cullen muttered, “But I must take my leave of you.”

“Cullen! Cullen, please-“ she called after him as he began walking, almost running, back down the stairs.

He stopped at the door and slightly tilted his downward gaze in her direction. “I will be back at nightfall. I hope you take no offense, Inquisitor.”

The door shut softly behind him, her lion obviously taking care to show her he was not angry with her. Nevertheless, she sank to her knees at the top of the stairs and did not rise for many minutes. It was the formality of his speech that had undone her. Until they spoke again, she would not be able to unhear the way he had spoken to her.

She bought a new lockbox and he never saw her lyrium potions again.

**Author's Note:**

> I found this hidden away in a folder. I forgot I wrote this.


End file.
